ISLAMABAD, April 30: Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddique of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday directed the Islamabad police to issue appointment letters to the candidates who had qualified the test for 111 posts of assistant sub-inspector (ASI) and 468 posts of constables in 2009.

The court directed the DIG operations Ahmed Mukarram to issue the appointment letters by May 2 and adjourned the hearing till then. The cases of these successful candidates had been pending since then because the interior ministry stopped the recruitment process.

Earlier the court, on January 26 had disposed of similar petitions after directing the Islamabad police for considering the names of successful candidates for appointment when the interior ministry would announce vacancies again.

However, in the recent petitions filed by three constables who qualified the test held for the post of ASI requested the court to initiate contempt proceedings against the police authorities as they, despite receiving instructions from interior ministry, were reluctant to issue their appointment letters.

Wasatullah Shah, counsel for the petitioners told the court that interior ministry had directed the police authorities to implement the court’s order regarding recruitments in police but not a single appointment letter has so far been issued to any of the candidates. He said the candidates were waiting for their letters but they had come to know through different sources that the delay was aimed at accommodating some political figures again.

The counsel pointed out that the crime rate had increased alarmingly and the country also suffered a lot due to the political appointments in the law enforcement agencies. He added the circumstances demanded immediate recruitment on the vacant posts of the law enforcement agencies.

Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri representing the Islamabad police and interior ministry told the court that the Islamabad police started the hiring process in ICT police in 2009 but it was stopped because the federal government imposed a ban on all recruitments in government departments.

“Since the ban has not been lifted yet, the process cannot be started”, he said and added, as soon as the government lifted the ban, the recruitment process would begin from the stage at which it was stopped.— A Reporter